Safeguard duty proposed on solar panel imports for 200 days

The Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) has recommended imposition of duty on imports of solar cells for a period of 200 days, Parliament was informed today.

The preliminary findings have been submitted to the standing board under the commerce secretary, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla informed the Lok Sabha.

Safeguard duty is imposed to protect domestic players from steep rise in imports of a product.

Shukla in a written reply to the House said that the directorate has initiated safeguard investigations in December last year.

"The preliminary findings dated January 5 have been submitted to the standing board on safeguards recommending imposition of provisional safeguard duty on the imports of solar cells whether or not assembled in modules or panels for a period of 200 days," he said.

The standing board is headed by commerce secretary. The final decision to impose the duty is taken by the finance ministry.

The minister said that imports of solar cells from China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan account for more than 90 per cent of the total inbound shipments in the country.

Since the provisional duty recommendations exempts the developing countries except China and Malaysia, there would still be countries like Vietnam and Thailand from which the imports can be carried out, he added.